Prominent Donald Trump supporter Mike Lindell has almost no chance of having the Supreme Court review his voting machine challenge, legal experts have said.
Lindell wants the Supreme Court to rule that the use of electronic voting systems is unconstitutional.
The MyPillow CEO is teaming up for the case with Arizona Republican Kari Lake, who has said her 2022 defeat in the state's gubernatorial election was marred by fraud. Lake's allegations have already been repeatedly rejected in court.
This week, Lindell's team issued a filing to the Supreme Court seeking to revive a 2022 lawsuit by Lake to the use of electronic voting systems that was dismissed by judges as "frivolous" at the time.
Greg Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University in New York, said Lindell's challenge seems like a publicity stunt as it is unclear if he is starting a new case or trying to revive Lake's.
"If the former, is it timely? The court's original jurisdiction is limited to disputes between states and involving foreign ambassadors, and is not based on certiorari (a writ or order by which a higher court reviews a case tried in a lower court). The Supreme Court is not an investigative body. It is not the place to present newly discovered evidence," he said.
"So this looks like a publicity stunt rather than a genuine request for a Supreme Court review," he added.
Peter Shane, a New York University law professor, agreed that Lindell couldn't possibly take a Supreme Court challenge without first going through the lower courts.
He said the Supreme Court only has limited authority to take original cases that have not gone through the lower courts.
He said Article III of the U.S Constitution states that the Supreme Court will only take such original cases if they are "affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be part."
Even if the challenge is based on Lake's case, the Supreme Court would not accept new evidence that has not been heard by the lower courts.
Lake's Supreme Court petition read: "Newly uncovered evidence also shows Arizona's Maricopa County flagrantly violated state law for electronic voting systems—including using altered software not certified for use in Arizona—and actively misrepresented and concealed those violations."
Newsweek sought email comment on Monday from Mike Lindell and the Maricopa County government.
In February, a federal judge ordered Lindell to pay $5 million to a software engineer after offering the prize in a "Prove Mike Wrong Challenge" to disprove specific claims the businessman made about why the 2020 presidential election was invalid.
Trump, who has become the presumptive Republican presidential candidate for the 2024 election, is continuing to say the 2020 contest was rigged against him, despite this being repeatedly rejected in the courts and by independent election experts.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
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